U.S. sanctions Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel

The United States has added Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel to its sanctions list, along with several members of Cuba’s ruling elite and state-linked entities, according to the Treasury Department.

The designations were announced on Thursday by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which added Díaz-Canel to the Specially Designated Nationals list.

Also sanctioned were Alejandro Castro Espín, the son of former Cuban leader Raúl Castro; Raul Alejandro Castro Calis, who was listed as linked to Castro Espín; Lis Cuesta Peraza, who was listed as linked to Díaz-Canel; and Manuel Anido Cuesta, who was listed as linked to Cuesta Peraza.

OFAC also sanctioned Cuba’s Ministry of the Revolutionary Armed Forces, known as MINFAR, along with the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution, the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, travel agency Amistur Cuba SA and mining company Minera La Victoria SA.

The action places the named people and entities on OFAC’s sanctions list, generally blocking property and interests in property under U.S. jurisdiction and restricting dealings with U.S. persons.

Díaz-Canel, who has led Cuba since taking over from Raúl Castro and later becoming president, is the highest-ranking Cuban official named in Thursday’s action. OFAC did not immediately provide a detailed public explanation in the list update beyond the Cuba-related sanctions authority used for the designations.

The sanctions come weeks after the Justice Department unsealed charges against Raúl Castro and five other men in the 1996 Cuban shootdown of two unarmed Brothers to the Rescue aircraft over international waters, which killed four people, including three U.S. citizens.

Díaz-Canel called the indictment a political action “without any legal basis,” accusing the United States of lying and manipulating the 1996 shootdown. He said Cuba acted in “legitimate defense” after repeated violations of its airspace.